Out in West Texas, there are numerous oil and gas wells connected for hydrocarbons therefrom to flow into storage tanks; or vessels, where the hydrocarbons accumulate and subsequently are transported by pipeline or truck to the refinery. The vessels, of tanks, often are provided with sight gauges of the type having a sight glass that is placed between two spaced apart fittings connected to a vessel or the like so as to show a liquid level therein.
Several times during the year, thunderstorms develop and drop large hailstones from the clouds. The hailstones frequently are of a size to strike and break the unprotected sight glass, whereupon, the contents of the vessel gravitate onto the ground. Sometime, the hailstones are of a size to break windshields of automobiles, and can stun or prove fatal to people and animals.
Sight gauges of this type are al so employed to gauge other vessels, some of which may be under considerable pressure and when the sight glass is broken, the escaping fluid presents a hazard to persons and property.
It is not unusual for a person working in the vicinity of a sight glass to inadvertently strike the sight glass with a tool with sufficient force to break the glass, whereupon the contents of the vessel are free to flow onto the surroundings and contaminate the immediate area.
It would therefore be advantageous to enclose a sight glass within a transparent plastic shield assembly to thereby afford protection to the sight glass.
Numerous sight glass protective shields or guards previously have been proposed, as evidenced by the art cited herein. However, none of the prior art provides a sight glass protective shield having all of the novel attributes found in the present invention.